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Appeal to the Don Fellow Writers

On April, 8, it is the 55^th anniversary of the publication in the newspaper “Literatura i Zhizn” of the article by M.A.Sholokhov “To My Countrymen”, which became an introductory welcoming address in the issue devoted to the creative work of the Don writers.

The newspaper “Literatura i Zhizn” was published by the RSFSR Union of Writers. In 1958, when the first issue of the newspaper was published, M.A.Sholokhov expressed his confidence that “Literatura i Zhizn” would become “an aide” of the Russian writers, a popularizer and a principled critic of their creative work. The title of the newspaper is the program of its activity. Verify the literature by the life.”

Two years later, when the newspaper began publishing Don writers, M.A.Sholokhov noted that “not only in Moscow and Liningrad, but also in the Far East, the Urals, Siberia, in the Don, Kuban, Volga and Terek regions, there live the writers, whose books are known to the readers all over the country. …And it is not by the passport registration stamp that the readers assess the contribution of a writer into literature. The writers can’t be divided into city and regional ones”. M.A.Sholokhov underlined: “The Don company in our literature can be made out by a good, courageous step.”

The writer’s advice given to his Don fellow writers was accepted “by the Don company” in full: ”The word extracted by the writer from the bowels of the mighty Russian language each time must be the only word which unerringly finds its way to the heart of the reader.”

The readers of the whole country know and love books by A.Kalinin, V.Zakrutkin, P.Lebedenko, V.Karpenko, V.Syomin, M.Sokolov, V.Fomenko, N.Sukhanova and many other Don writers. They adjusted their creative work according to the “magnitude” of Sholokhov, looked for and found their way to the hearts of the readers.

The welcoming address of M.A.Sholokhov was published in the 8^th volume of the writer’s collective works under the title: “The Readers Expect from the Writers New Words about the Modernity”.

Tatiyana Nektova